As part of an Erasmus+ Programme project, six students currently reading for the B.Ed. (Hons) (science education) and the Master in Education for Sustainable Development, together with Professor Paul Pace and Dr Mark Mifsud (from the Centre for Environmental Education and Research), attended a seven-day field course in Olomouc, Czech Republic in March.

The project, called Educhange - making knowledge together, addresses climate change through innovative place based education and blended learning. This is a 3-year project involving the University of Malta, together with Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic; Utrecht University, the Netherlands; and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. 

Through this field course, the participants were trained in innovative and creative teaching methodologies based on both local and global perspectives, which they can integrate into their respective classrooms back home. Lecturers from all the four participating universities provided a general overview of climate change, climate change awareness and visualisation as well as the use of geo datasets. The students also had the opportunity to participate in four different workshops related to various innovative educational methodologies and were then expected to create and test their own educational activities.

During this field trip, the participants also visited the Povodi Maravy water treatment facility in Olomouc, as well as the Novomlýnské nádrže water reservoir to further enhance the concept of place-based education and blended learning.

The educational activities that were prepared during the workshops in Olomouc will now be piloted with groups of secondary school students from each of the participating countries. Feedback will be obtained and presented during the Science Jam which will take place in Trondheim, Norway in May.

The project is supported by the Erasmus + Program resources no.: 2017-1-CZ01-KA203-035519